Table Variables In T-SQL

Posted by scott on 20 March 2005

Table variables allow you to store a resultset in SQL Server without the overhead of declaring and cleaning up a
temporary table. In this article, we will highlight the features and advantages of the table variable data type.

Microsoft introduced table variables with SQL Server 2000 as an alternative to using
temporary tables. In many cases a table variable can outperform a solution using a
temporary table, although we will need to review the strengths and weaknesses of
each in this article.
Table variables store a set of records, so naturally the declaration syntax looks very
similar to a CREATE TABLE statement, as you can see in the following example:
DECLARE @ProductTotals TABLE
(
ProductID int,
Revenue money
)

While connected to the Northwind data-base, we could write the following SELECT
statement to populate the table variable.
INSERT INTO @ProductTotals (ProductID, Revenue)
SELECT ProductID, SUM(UnitPrice * Quantity)
FROM [Order Details]
GROUP BY ProductID

You can use table variables in batches, stored procedures, and user-defined functions
(UDFs). We can UPDATE records in our table variable as well as DELETE records.
UPDATE @ProductTotals
SET Revenue = Revenue * 1.15
WHERE ProductID = 62
DELETE FROM @ProductTotals
WHERE ProductID = 60
SELECT TOP 5 *
FROM @ProductTotals
ORDER BY Revenue DESC

You might think table variables work just like temporary tables (CREATE TABLE
#ProductTotals), but there are some differences.

Scope
Unlike the majority of the other data types in SQL Server, you cannot use a table
variable as an input or an output parameter. In fact, a table variable is scoped to the
stored procedure, batch, or user-defined function just like any local variable you
create with a DECLARE statement. The variable will no longer exist after the
procedure exits - there will be no table to clean up with a DROP statement.
Although you cannot use a table variable as an input or output parameter, you can

return a table variable from a user-defined function we will see an example later in
this article. However, because you cant pass a table variable to another stored
procedure as input there still are scenarios where youll be required to use a
temporary table when using calling stored procedures from inside other stored
procedures and sharing table results.
The restricted scope of a table variable gives SQL Server some liberty to perform
optimizations.

Performance
Because of the well-defined scope, a table variable will generally use fewer resources
than a temporary table. Transactions touching table variables only last for the duration
of the update on the table variable, so there is less locking and logging overhead.
Using a temporary table inside of a stored procedure may result in additional recompilations of the stored procedure. Table variables can often avoid this
recompilation hit. For more information on why stored procedures may recompile,
look at Microsoft knowledge base article 243586 (INF: Troubleshooting
Stored Procedure Recompilation).

Other Features
Constraints are an excellent way to ensure the data in a table meets specific
requirements, and you can use constraints with table variables. The following example
ensures ProductID values in the table will be unique, and all prices are less then 10.0.
DECLARE @MyTable TABLE
(
ProductID int UNIQUE,
Price money CHECK(Price < 10.0)
)

You can also declare primary keys. identity columns, and default values.
DECLARE @MyTable TABLE
(
ProductID int IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
Name varchar(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT('Unknown')
)

So far it seems that table variables can do anything temporary tables can do within the
scope of a stored procedure, batch, or UDF), but there are some drawbacks.

Restrictions
You cannot create a non-clustered index on a table variable, unless the index is a side
effect of a PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint on the table (SQL Server enforces
any UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraints using an index).
Also, SQL Server does not maintain statistics on a table variable, and statistics are
used heavily by the query optimizer to determine the best method to execute a query.

Neither of these restrictions should be a problem, however, as table variables

generally exist for a specific purpose and arent used for a wide range of ad-hoc
queries.
The table definition of a table variable cannot change after the DECLARE statement.
Any ALTER TABLE query attempting to alter a table variable will fail with a syntax
error. Along the same lines, you cannot use a table variable with SELECT INTO or
INSERT EXEC queries. f you are using a table variable in a join, you will need to
alias the table in order to execute the query.
SELECT ProductName, Revenue
FROM Products P
INNER JOIN @ProductTotals PT ON P.ProductID = PT.ProductID

You can use a table variable with dynamic SQL, but you must declare the table inside
the dynamic SQL itself. The following query will fail with the error Must declare the
variable '@MyTable'.
DECLARE @MyTable TABLE
(
ProductID int ,
Name varchar(10)
)
EXEC sp_executesql N'SELECT * FROM @MyTable'

Its also important to note how table variables do not participate in transaction
rollbacks. Although this can be a performance benefit, it can also catch you off guard
if you are not aware of the behavior. To demonstrate, the following query batch will
return a count of 77 records even though the INSERT took place inside a transaction
with ROLLBACK.
DECLARE @ProductTotals TABLE
(
ProductID int ,
Revenue money
)
BEGIN TRANSACTION
INSERT INTO @ProductTotals (ProductID, Revenue)
SELECT ProductID, SUM(UnitPrice * Quantity)
FROM [Order Details]
GROUP BY ProductID
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM @ProductTotals

Choosing Between Temporary Tables and Table Variables

Now youve come to a stored procedure that needs temporary resultset storage.
Knowing what we have learned so far, how do you decide on using a table variable or
a temporary table?

First, we know there are situations that which demand the use of a temporary table.
This in-cludes calling nested stored procedures which use the resultset, certain
scenarios using dy-namic SQL, and cases where you need transaction rollback
support.
Secondly, the size of the resultset will determine which solution to choose. If the table
stores a resultset so large you require indexes to improve query performance, youll
need to stick to a temporary table. In some borderline cases try some performance
benchmark testing to see which approach offers the best performance. If the resultset
is small, the table variable is always the optimum choice.

An Example: Split
Table variables are a superior alternative to using temporary tables in many situations.
The ability to use a table variable as the return value of a UDF is one of the best uses
of table vari-ables. In the following sample, we will address a common need: a
function to parse a delimited string into pieces. In other words, given the string
1,5,9 we will want to return a table with a record for each value: 1, 5, and 9.
The following user-defined function will walk through an incoming string and parse
out the individual entries. The UDF insert the en-tries into a table variable and returns
the table variable as a result. As an example, calling the UDF with the following
SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM fn_Split('foo,bar,widget', ',')

will return the following result set.

position value
1
foo
2
bar
3
widget

We could use the resultset in another stored procedure or batch as a table to select
against or filter with. We will see why the split function can be useful in the next
OdeToCode article. For now, here is the source code to fn_Split.
if exists (select * from dbo.sysobjects where id = ob-ject_id(N'[dbo].[fn_Split]') and
xtype in (N'FN', N'IF', N'TF'))
drop function [dbo].[fn_Split]
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO
CREATE FUNCTION fn_Split(@text varchar(8000), @delimiter varchar(20) = ' ')
RETURNS @Strings TABLE
(
position int IDENTITY PRIMARY KEY,
value varchar(8000)
)
AS

BEGIN
DECLARE @index int
SET @index = -1
WHILE (LEN(@text) > 0)
BEGIN
SET @index = CHARINDEX(@delimiter , @text)
IF (@index = 0) AND (LEN(@text) > 0)
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @Strings VALUES (@text)
BREAK
END
IF (@index > 1)
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @Strings VALUES (LEFT(@text, @index - 1))
SET @text = RIGHT(@text, (LEN(@text) - @index))
END
ELSE
SET @text = RIGHT(@text, (LEN(@text) - @index))
END
RETURN
END
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

Summary
Next time you find yourself using a temporary table, think of table variables instead.
Table variables can offer performance benefits and flexibility when compared to
temporary tables, and you can let the server clean up afterwards.